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Twin Dies After Fall From Escalator In Building

Jennifer Santos fell as she was trying to retrieve her sister's hat, said officials.
NEW YORK - JANUARY 29: The World Trade Center Transportation Hub, known as Oculus and realized by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. (Photo by Andrea Franceschini by Corbis News via Getty Images).
Andrea Franceschini via Getty Images
NEW YORK - JANUARY 29: The World Trade Center Transportation Hub, known as Oculus and realized by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. (Photo by Andrea Franceschini by Corbis News via Getty Images).

A New Jersey teacher died Saturday after she fell from an escalator onto the main concourse of the World Trade Center Oculus transit hub in downtown Manhattan. She fell over the side of the escalator as she grabbed for a hat her twin sister had dropped, officials said.

Jennifer Santos, 29, was declared dead at Bellevue Hospital, ABC6-TV reported. Her twin, Jessica, was treated for trauma but was otherwise uninjured, officials said.

The accident occurred early Saturday morning as the sisters were traveling home to Kearny after a night on the town, according to the New York Post.

An unidentified man takes a photo in the World Trade Center Oculus transit hub.
Carlo Allegri / Reuters
An unidentified man takes a photo in the World Trade Center Oculus transit hub.

It was the first death in the soaring white-marble Oculus building. It’s the centerpiece of a $3.9 billion transportation hub in the World Trade Center complex, which opened last year to replace the New Jersey PATH terminal that was destroyed in the 9/11 terror attacks.

The hub, which includes a shopping mall with some 100 stores, stretches four blocks beneath three office towers and connects to several subway systems, as well as ferries. One person on the scene after the accident complained that the barriers along the escalator should be higher in the Oculus atrium.

Port Authority officials were continuing to investigate the accident. The escalator was shut down for several hours Saturday.

An exterior view of the Oculus.
Mike Segar / Reuters
An exterior view of the Oculus.
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